Media News

Morning Media Newsfeed 01.10.13

One Night in, Kimmel Tops Letterman in Ratings, But Falls Short of Nightline(TVNewser) On his first night at 11:35 p.m., Jimmy Kimmel Live beat The Late Show with David Letterman in the ratings, drawing nearly 3.1 million viewers. That said, Kimmel fell short of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which drew 3.27 million viewers, as well as the show he replaced, Nightline, which averaged 3.9 million viewers last quarter. NYT / Media Decoder Leno was also the winner in the audience of most interest to late-night advertisers, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49. Leno had 1.084 million viewers in that group to 887,000 for Kimmel and 683,000 for Letterman. LA Times / Show Tracker ABC is positioning Kimmel to ascend to the top of late-night TV in future years, and Tuesday night provided a good first step in that direction. Kimmel beat Letterman, who delivered 2.9 million viewers for the night. And Leno has fallen a long way since a few seasons back, when he routinely drew more than 5 million viewers per night. WSJ The turnout is a promising start for ABC, though Kimmel's debut showing in the earlier time slot could be expected to draw a big audience. The real test will come over time. When NBC moved Conan O'Brien to 11:35 p.m. in 2009, the early results were strong but O'Brien's ratings quickly slumped. NBC moved O'Brien back to his original time slot although he left soon after. Chicago Tribune / Reuters At 45, Kimmel is two decades younger than Leno, 62, and Letterman, 65. ABC hopes that fact, coupled with his younger, tech-savvy audience, will make his show more appealing to advertisers. The network's marketing blitz features ads with the tagline: "Younger. Smarter. Funnier. Earlier." HuffPostNightline moved to 12:35 a.m. The news program outperformed CBS' Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and NBC's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The show brought in a total of 1.721 million viewers and won the key adults 25-54 demographic.

White House Files Formal Response to Piers Morgan Petition (TVNewser) The White House has filed a formal response to the petition that wanted CNN host Piers Morgan to be deported back to his native Great Britain. More than 100,000 people signed the petition, which was filed after Morgan became outspoken regarding his support of gun control after the tragic shooting in Newtown, Conn. HuffPost The White House released its comment in a piece entitled, "When Discussing the Second Amendment, Keep the First in Mind Too." "Let's not let arguments over the Constitution's Second Amendment violate the spirit of its First," White House press secretary Jay Carney wrote. ABC News / The Note In his response, Carney underscored that "the Constitution not only guarantees an individual right to bear arms, but also enshrines the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press -- fundamental principles that are essential to our democracy." The response came just days after Morgan and conservative radio host Alex Jones, an avid backer of the petition, had a heated on-air debate over gun control. Slate / The Slatest The CNN talk show host who has somehow managed to go from someone embroiled in London's massive phone hacking and bribery scandal -- he denies any involvement -- to a top advocate for gun control and a central figure in the debate that sprang up after the Sandy Hook massacre, officially won't have to worry that President Obama will kick him out of the country. Forbes / Mixed Media Syndicated radio host Jones has moved from the fringe to center stage, at least temporarily, following a spittle-flecked appearance on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. But who is he, anyway?

Robin Roberts: 'It's a Great Comfort Not to Feel Pressured and a Blessing to Know I Have a Job Waiting for Me' (TVNewser) ABC's Robin Roberts took to Facebook Wednesday with "encouraging news" from her doctors and discussed the interest in her return to Good Morning America. "I'm humbled by the speculation of my return to GMA," Roberts wrote. "My family and I are grateful that GMA/ABC's only concern is my full recovery. It's a great comfort not to feel pressured and a blessing to know I have a job waiting for me." HuffPost The GMA host tweeted an update to her followers on Wednesday morning, sharing her joy in watching her colleagues start the day, with a little tease at the end. "Watching my friends on @GMA is great way to start my day. Once again I'll have what @LaraSpencer is having this morn! See you very soon. :-)" New York Daily News Roberts will reveal when she plans to return to the top-rated morning show, sometime "in the next few days," she said Wednesday. Roberts is expected to appear on GMA -- via either a phone call, pretaped video or live satellite feed -- to make her announcement, sources said.

CIA Officials Invisible at Washington Premiere of bin Laden Film (Reuters) There were journalists in droves, glasses of wine proffered by waiters and hors d'oeuvres devised by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck at the Washington premiere of a movie about the CIA, but prominent agency officials were nowhere to be seen. Although official records show the spy agency cooperated generously with the makers of Zero Dark Thirty, which dramatizes the 10-year hunt for Osama bin Laden, the movie's graphic depictions of torture have made it a political hot potato of the kind Washington thrives on but which mystifies Hollywood. FishbowlDC Moving on to the red carpet, the actual celebrities -- film creators Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow and actor Chris Pratt -- were an hour late. But that didn't mean the Washington Examiner's gossip columnist Nikki Schwab didn't catwalk it herself. She did, stopping just long enough to chat with D.C. publicist Janet Donovan. ABC's Martha Raddatz, who moderated the vice presidential debate in October (not quite on the same level as Schwab) opted to walk behind the press, avoiding the red carpet altogether.

Decision on Whether to Charge David Gregory Could Come Soon, D.C. Attorney General Says (The Washington Post) A decision on whether to pursue criminal charges after an incident in which Meet the Press host David Gregory held what appeared to be a high-capacity ammunition magazine on national television could come by week's end, the District's attorney general said Wednesday. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan confirmed that he had received an investigative report from the police department. He will likely determine whether to pursue charges in the case by the end of the week, Nathan said. Politico / Dylan Byers on Media "The choices are to prosecute or to decline to prosecute, and we will look at all the factors and make a determination," he added. When asked for an update regarding the report that Meet the Press had reached out for permission both through ATF and MPD, Nathan said he had nothing to add at the moment, but that he has "reason to believe that's in the report."

Media and Publishing Jobs See Largest Wage Growth Since 2006 (HuffPost) Despite recent budgetary concerns surrounding the so-called fiscal cliff, U.S. wages appear to be growing -- even in industries where you wouldn't expect it. Media and publishing professions saw the largest annual growth in wages in the fourth quarter of 2012 in six years, according to the latest reading of the PayScale Index.

Al Jazeera in America (CJR / Behind the News) Al Jazeera has come a long way since the days it was associated with the likes of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, but its battle for acceptance by the American people is not nearly won -- U.S. public opinion, as Al Jazeera's history and its smaller forays into the market here have shown, could prove its greatest obstacle yet.

Digital-Only Publishers Rising (Digital Book World) Only in book publishing can a small concern made up of just a handful of people and a will to publish compete with the largest companies. Indie authors are showing the industry that an individual can compete, too. The eBook era has flattened the playing field so much so that start-up digital-only publishers and indie authors routinely sell as many copies of their books as do some of the very largest publishers in the world. Well, "routinely" might be a stretch, but it's happening.

Oprah Winfrey's OWN Adds Six New Original Series (Ebony) 2012 was a great year for the Oprah Winfrey Network. OWN, which once suffered from low ratings and management shake-ups, reached double-digit gains and soared with 11 months of consecutive ratings growth. The 2013 season looks just as bright for OWN. Over the weekend, the network revealed six new original series added to its lineup.

TCA: Netflix Looks to Join TV Big Leagues (Variety) "We have the opportunity to make history here," Kevin Spacey's character from House of Cards said at the end of the sizzle reel that opened Netflix's inaugural Television Critics Association press tour session Wednesday. The message was not lost on the crowd. In bringing a slate of shows to TCA, the netcaster that has up-ended the rules of the TV biz aims to take its place alongside traditional networks as a purveyor of original programming.

The Washington Post Kills Off Its Food Section's Blog (Eater) When it rains it pours: Following the news of Gourmet Live getting the ax, now The Washington Post is killing off All We Can Eat, the food section's blog. Timed concurrently with a management shakeup, a bunch of blogs over at WaPo are shutting down (including Celebritology).

Village Voice Media Sells SF Weekly and Seattle Weekly to Black Press Properties (JimRomenesko.com)Seattle Weekly has been sold by Village Voice Media to Sound Publishing, which puts out 36 daily, weekly and monthly community newspapers and magazines in western Washington and northern Oregon. The Voice also sold SF Weekly to San Francisco Newspaper Co., which runs the San Francisco Examiner and the Bay Guardian.

At Huffington Post, Everything Old Is New Again: All Reporters Get Blogs (Capital New York) So what's next for the impossibly successful eyeball-catcher and jewel-in-the-content-crown of parent company AOL? Blogging! HuffPost is rolling out a new blog template in two weeks that will allow every reporter in the organization to maintain his or her own personal blog as a supplement to their usual beat-reporting for the site.

New Year Begins with Flurry of Ad Industry Deals (NYT / Media Decoder) The new year has barely begun, but it looks as if it may be a busy one for deal-making on Madison Avenue. Several acquisitions and transactions have already been made this week, on the heels of others last week. The deals are predominantly in the faster-growing specialty areas of the business like shopper marketing, digital advertising and public relations.

Report Predicts Foursquare Will Fail This Year (SocialTimes) PrivCo, a company that supplies financial research into private companies, is predicting that Foursquare will fail in 2013, likely by being sold for a price lower than the total $71.3 million in funding the company has raised. The social network boasts 20 million members and 5 million daily check-ins, but, according to a PrivCo report, is failing to meet investors' or internal projections "quarter after quarter."